THE Penola Men’s Shed has secured $15,000 in Federal Government funding to enable members to expand the group’s facilities.
The Men’s Shed received $5900 through the National Shed Development program to help redevelop the kitchen, while $8900 was awarded through the
Stronger Communities program to connect plumbing services to the site.
The community organisation also secured $2000 from Wattle Range Council under the Community Financial Assistance grant scheme to complete concreting for an undercover work area.
Penola Men’s Shed president Ian Tregenza said all funding secured was appreciated by the organisation.
“It has now taken us around 12 months to put together our new men’s shed and there is a little bit more to do to it,” Mr Tregenza said.
“Over the past two or three weeks we have received the funding which has allowed us to finish it off.”
Mr Tregenza said the organisation paid for the cabinets themselves as well as a number of other items.
“We are grateful for the grants and we are also grateful for the women who assist us in filling out the funding application forms, because they can be quite complicated,” he said.
“Now we have the funding we might be able to upgrade some of our gear in the shed and re-organise it.
“It has been nice to clean up the shed as it was quite dusty and there was a lot of sawdust floating around.
“It is nice to have a separate area where we can have morning tea.”
The new shed is also available for meetings and other gatherings.
“We are hoping to have some of the Pinchunga residents come for a visit and a bit of a chat at some stage,” Mr Tregenza said.
“The men’s shed is just a good social gathering where we have opportunities to give back to the community.”
Mr Tregenza said the shed would not have been possible if not for the generosity of the community.
“We all benefit from the men’s shed as we have members who do not have wives or perhaps a few issues – they all come here and you can see the improvement,” he said.
The Penola Men’s Shed members meet at the Penola High School facility each Wednesday and new members are always welcome.
